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No. 588,518. Patented Aug. 17,1897;

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FREDERICK J. WEBER, OE CONNERSviLLE, INDIANA, ASSICNOR To THE STEEL STORAGE AND ELEvATOR CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, OE SAME PLACE.

ASH-CONVEYING APPARATUk SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 588,518, dated August 17, 1897. Application filed May 5, 18397. Serial No. 635,260. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom, t may concern.'

invented certain new and useful Improvef ments in Ash-Conveying Apparatus,'of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to .pneumatic appa'- ratus for Conveying ashes from furnaces to more or less distant'points of deposit; and the 1o improvements willbereadily understood from the fol-lowing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a building containing furnaces and equipped with ash- 1 5 conveying apparatus exemplifying my inven- `tion, portions of the building appearing in vertical longitudinal section; Fig. 2, a plan of the furnaces and conveying apparatus, the building appearing in horizontal section; Fig.

2o 3, a vertical transverse'section through one of the receiving-hoppers of the apparatus; Fig. 4, a vertical section of the vacuum-chamber and its immediate connections, and Fig. 5 a horizontal section of that portion of the disz 5 charge-pipe below the vacuum-chamber,

In thedrawings, 1 indicates the building; 2, a rank of furnaces therein which may be assumed as'being ordinary boiler-furnace's;,

3, a pipe disposed along in front of the rank 3o of furnaces but some distance below the deck or floor just in front ofjthe furnaces; 4, the end of this pipe farthest away from the point of ultimate deposit for the-ashes, the end in question being open to admit air freely to the pipe; 5, ahopper disposedin front of each furnace andI having its base in communication with pipe 3, the top of the hoppers being flush with the floorV in front of the furnaces; v6, a grating disposed at an intermediate point in 4o the height of each hopper and of such fineness asrto intercept clinkers or other material too heavy to be satisfactorily handled by an air-current; 7, a trap-door, vone closing theA top of each hopper; 3 a vacuum-chamber havingahopper-bottom; 9, connection of pipe 3 with this vacuum-chamber at a point near the base thereof; 10, ash-discharge pipe, to be assumed as leading to the point at which the ashes are to be deposited by the apparatus; 5o 11, pipe connection from the base of the Vacuum-Chamber downwardly -into pipe 10,

this pipeconnection 1l having an enlargement in the form of a cylindrical chamber with its axis horizontal; 12, a paddle-wheel disposed for rotation in such chamber and having its wings in neat engagement with the walls o'f the chamber, the chamber and paddle-wheel forming a feeder from thevacuumchamber to pipe 10; 13, a secondinlet-pipe 'tothe vacuum-chamber, being merely an exernplifyingV duplication of pipe 9 for use in case they apparatus. istodeal with ashes drawn throughseveral pipes 3 instead ofone such pipe, there being of course no opening at pipe 13 in case such additional pipe is not to be used; 14, an air-chamber, illustrated'as being an ordinary rotary blower and eXhauster operated by a direct-connected engine; 15, vacuum-pipe connecting the inlet side of the pump with the upper portion ofA the vacuumchamber; 16, blast-pipe connecting the discharge side of the pump with pipe 10, pipe 10 being in effect merely a prolongation of pipe 16; 17, a horizontal widening of pipe 10 Yat the point where the feeder discharges into that pipe; 18, an angular divider disposed Vwithinthe widened portion of pipe 10 and presenting its apex to the blast, which is thus split into two currents, one at each side of the divider, the currents later joining and going Onward in pipe 10, the feeder delivering into pipe 10 at the base of the angular divider, and 19 exemplifying transmitting devices in the way of belts and pulleys, by means of which continuous rotary motion is given to the paddle-wheel of the feeder from the engine which drives the pump.

The pump being in operation, the result is the production of a partial vacuum in the vacuum-chamber, whereby there is caused a violent rush of air into the open end 4 of pipe 3 and through pipes 3 and 9 into the vacuumchamber, the pump at the same time producing a violent blast of air through pipes 16 and 10, the blast-current being temporarily divided by divider 18, and there being at the base of the divider a region of relatively low air pressure. One of trap doorsA 7 :being opened, it follows that there will be a violent rush of air downward throughVv the grating into pipe 3. Ashes being raked from thefurnace into the open hopper become sucked into IOO pipe 3 and carried along therethrough and delivered into the vacuum-chamber. As the effect at the hopper is one of downward suction it follows that the handling of the ashes in front of the furnaces would be practically free from dust. XVith pumping apparatus of suiicient capacity several of the trap-doors may be open at once, but the ordinary practice is to open one trap-door at a time.

The ashes received in to the vacuum-chamber settle down therein by gravity and fill in succession'the upper pockets of the paddlewheel,whieh, in turning, carries those pockets downwardly and drops the ashes into the broadened portion of pipe l0 at the base of the divider, the accumulation of ashes at the base of the receiver beingl acted on by the divided blast and swept thereby onwardly through pi pe l0 to the point of deposit. Points above and below the paddle-wheel represent, respectively, relatively low and high air-pressures, these points being separated by the paddle-wheel, which acts as a cut-off and prevents the higher pressure reaching the vacuum-chamber, where it would interfere with the discharge from the vacuum-chamber and at the same time cut down the vacuum and increase the pumping duty.

The specific construction of feeder and divider herein set forth is not claimed herein, such features forming the subject-matter of an application for patent tiled May 5, 1897, Serial No. 635,259.

I claim as my inventionl. In an ash-conveying apparatus, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a hopper in the iioor near a furnace, a vacuumchamber, a pipe leading from the base of said hopper to the lower portion of said vacuumchamher, a pump, a pipe from the upper portion of said vacuum-chamber to the inlet side of said pump, a pipe leading from the discharge side of said pump to the point of deposit for the ashes, a pipe connection from the base of the vacuum-chamber to the lastmentioned pipe between said pump and said point of deposit, and a rotary feederdisposed in the last-mentioned pipe connection and serving to permit the downward movement of ashes from the vacuum-chamber but to prevent thc upward passage of air from the discharge-pipe.

2. In an ash-conveyingapparatus, thecombination, substantially as set forth, of a series of hoppers disposed in the floor in front of a rank of furnaces, a trap-door for each hopper, a grating at each hopper, a vacuumchamber, a pipe leading from the bases of all the hoppers to the lower portion of the Vacuum-chamber, a pump, a pipe from the upper portion of said vacuum-chamber to the inlet side of said pump, a pipe leading from the discharge side of said pump to the point of deposit for the ashes, a pipe connection from the base of the vacuum-chamber to the last-mentioned pipe between said pump and said point of deposit, and a rotary feeder disposed in the last-mentioned pipe connection and serving to permit the downward movement of ashes from the vacuum-chamber but to prevent the upward passage of air from the discharge-pipe.

FREDERICK J. WEBER. lVitnesses:

\V. E. XVILL, L. E. LOWE. 

